Out and About – June 2018

Digital Information Night

Initiated by agronomist Noel Jansz, Elders ran a digital information night in Lindenow this month which educated local farmers on emerging technologies in agriculture.

Michael Hall, Head of Digital, represented Elders speaking about the work that we are doing in the digital space and how we are leveraging technologies to bring systems and tools to clients that improve their efficiency and productivity.

Photo: Jeanette Severs

The travelling Elders cap

Elders made it all the way to the Congo this month through an Elders hat!

A supplier sent this picture through after finding a local wearing the cap in at the Kalongwe Mining/Camp.

Thanks to Nick Brooks, Burra, for sending this on.

Lego for Georgia

Twelve months ago a little girl called Georgia had heart surgery with very little hope of success. Touched by her story, Chris Howie, national livestock manager, and wife Kate, sent a note to a small group of Elders staff about her plight and how LEGO made her smile. The response was unbelievable.

Her mother Molly asked if she could visit us today in Adelaide and thank some of those involved, saying “you only see this in movies and it is hard to explain the feeling of this overwhelming gesture until it has happened to you. It is something that will stay with me for ever.”

Thank you Chris for sharing the generosity of the Elders people, and to those who kindly donated.

Years with Elders

Nick Lodge, Agri Finance Manager at Albury who recently celebrated 30 years with Elders, and Graeme Joyce, Branch Manager of Holbrook who has marked 25 years.

Thank you both for your on-going commitment and congratulations on your impressive milestones.

Safety Action Team in Action

The Safety Action Team held meetings in the South recently – this time held off-site at Tasmanian Quality Meats Cressy, Almondco in Renmark and Nippy’s Milk Processing Plant in Moorook.

The team learnt about the importance of safety for these operations and how measures might be implemented at Elders.

Almondco have decreased their monthly accident reports from 200 a month to 25, with LTI from 8 down to 1. Almondco will always have Donna or a Senior Manager attend the doctor appointments with the injured employee for support and to ensure they will be returning to work on light duties.

Nippy’s is a third generation family owned business run by the Knipsell’s, manufacturing fruit juice and flavoured dairy products, as well as packing fresh citrus. The Knipsell family have recently installed a fully automated bottling line for juice and milk products, this ensures the products can be bottled to meet demand – roughly four B-double trucks leave the Moorook plant each day. Accidents and incidents are kept to a minimum but a shared zone with forklifts and staff packing pallets are the main concern but up to this point they have had no major LTI in this area.

The South Australian SAT team came away with a better insight to how both Almondco and Nippy’s instil safety in their staff as well as a commitment to ensure all staff leave work in the same shape they started. Thanks to Steve Lehmann for organising the visit with the local companies.